The Cursed Castle
by Maxwell Lily
Summary: "I'll go home and I'll explain it to them. I'm sure they'll understand. I'll come back, I promise." The owner of the castle never broke eye-contact with Hae Soo, standing powerlessly in the doorway, watching as she left, with only hope in his heart. [Fairy Tale AU - The Beauty & The Beast Retelling]


Lord Wook climbed the hill with determination in every step. For all he knew, she was already dead, but still he marched on, sword in hand. His father should have allowed him to slay the monster the very moment he had asked, the very moment Hae Soo had stood up and declared she was to move into his castle. So many months had passed, and with every letter she wrote he was consumed with the certainty that she was a prisoner. The monster made her write sweet lies, speaking of the golden dawn from the highest tower and of kindness and good experiences. What could a murderer provide if not blood? What could a lone woman do by herself in a cursed castle? Wook walked, in the cold and rain, to rescue his betrothed.

It was a hideous castle and he was disgusted by it. Nothing about it spoke of the tradition of their kingdom; it was foreign, alien and dark. He kicked the gate open and set his eyes to the front door, ready to kill, ready to take back what was his. There were lights peering at him from windows and he thought, _good_ , he wanted to face him head-on and waste no time in piercing his blade through his heart.

But it was no monster who greeted him but maiden, dressed beautifully in white and with braids in her hair.

"Lord Wook? What are you doing here?"

Wook instantly grabbed her arm and pulled her back. She cried out in pain but he didn't let go, thinking that if he let go of her, then he would never have her again.

"Your nightmare ends tonight, Soo. I will take you back and kill this beast once and for all!"

"No!" She cried out, breaking free of his hold and standing in his way, blocking the entrance to the castle."What harm has he brought you?"

"What _harm?_ Hae Soo, you haven't been outside for months! You're his captive!"

"He has never harmed me! Haven't you been receiving my letters?"

Lord Wook held her face, his thumb caressing her cheek sweetly, looking into her eyes and deeming her insane.

"He has bewitched you but it's okay, Soo. I'll free you and we can get married like we promised."

Hae Soo pushed him away, round eyes which were usually full of kindness now wide with disbelief.

"Why won't you believe me? If you truly loved me, wouldn't you believe me?"

"Move aside and it'll be over, Soo, I promise."

The door behind the woman called Hae Soo opened and the castle's lord came into view. He was like what a murderer ought to be, eyes angled like a wolf's, nothing but black adorning his body, a sword stained with blood in his hand and one eye hidden from view behind a mask. Hae Soo couldn't contrast with him more but she didn't back away from him, her hand was on his chest and, strangely, she seemed to be pushing him back inside.

"Please, go back inside..." She seemed to plead, but Wook pushed her aside and she fell away from them. The wolf's only visible eye lit aflame at her cry and sword crossed with sword, anger with anger, meeting in the stormy night.

"You come here and you touch my person?" The man's voice was low but razor-sharp.

"Your person? She's my fiancee!'

" _She is not yours!_ " His voice echoed with the thunders in the sky.

Hae Soo watched the man take one step outside the castle door and screamed, "I'll go!"

Beast and man looked at her in shock, swords frozen in midair, air thick with tension and electricity. Hae Soo picked herself up from the ground, no longer pristine white, shaking a little in her bones, tears welling in her eyes. She walked towards them, arms in the air, praying none of them looked away, none of them took the first swing.

"I'll go home and I'll explain it to them. I'm sure they'll understand." She looked at the wolf in the eye, touching his arm but not pushing him to drop his weapon, not yet. "I'll come back, I promise."

He seemed to search for something in her eyes — the truth — and when he lowered his weapon ever so slightly, the man called Wook took Hae Soo's wrist and a few steps back, never lowering his own sword, never looking away from him. The owner of the castle never broke eye contact with Hae Soo, standing powerlessly in the doorway, watching as she left, with only hope in his heart.

 _I'll come back. I promise._

* * *

Hae Soo's feet hurt as she walked with Wook, mind still far, back in the castle. The dress he gave her was torn now, dirtied with the woods, and she felt so cold. She thought of one night when she lied by his fireplace, his fingers running through her hair and lulling her to sleep. She missed his comfort and it made her feel guilty in Wook's presence, but it was true. Past and present confused themselves in her mind and she tried her best to keep her calm, to keep a clear head. She had promised him, to go back, to help. To be his person.

 _I'll set you free._

His name was Wang So and he was trapped in a cursed castle, withering away.

* * *

She was sent there to help Wook's father, the man who had sheltered her, from death. He had stumbled upon the castle on a stormy night and, as the roof hadn't been enough for him, he had stolen food and riches, like a conqueror on foreign lands. When Wang So found him, he was set on killing him but the man called Taejo bargained with him. He offered him his own riches or any of his daughters. One was the most beautiful woman in the entire kingdom and the other possessed greater knowledge than any of her peers. The man called Wang So lowered his weapon and told the other that he was to keep his life if he brought him the intelligent daughter.

When she met him, she was afraid. His was not a welcoming appearance, looking more animal than man. He showed her to her room without uttering a single word and together they dined in equal silence. She could barely sleep that night, even if her bed was luxurious and he hadn't touched a strand of her hair. She remembered how her step father had told her of the blood on his sword and she could only think about it being swung in her direction and she didn't want to die. She still had so much to learn.

On the next morning, Wang So introduced her to his library. As she stood in awe in the middle of more shelves than she could count, he finally spoke.

"You are to read these books."

With his hands were clasped behind his back, she found him so tall and regal.

"Read them? All of them?"

"You'll be searching for something."

"And what is it that I must find?"

Hae Soo could feel herself succumbing to the gravity of the task, falling to her knees, feeling faint and weak.

"You must find a way to break my curse. This castle imprisons me and I cannot step foot outside without ending my own life. As time elapses it slowly makes me crumble with it, and if it ever crumbles down completely, so will I."

He took off his mask and Hae Soo met the horror of his fate, skin ripped, teared and broken, falling apart like a rotting tree. She looked away.

"And if I cannot do it?"

But when she looked up, the owner of the castle had already walked away.

* * *

He brought her sweets. On the first days, while she still worked on the titles on the shelves, climbed ladders and separated piles and piles of books, he brought her sweets, cookies and tea. She only noticed when they were already waiting for her on the table she had picked out to work, but he was never around. She noticed a lot of the books were in a foreign language that she had learned from her mother. She wondered if that was the reason he had called for her, that perhaps he couldn't read the books, or maybe he just couldn't tackle the entire library by himself. The details of his curse were still a mystery to her, but he was never around for her to question him, to know him or even, maybe, befriend him.

It was still on the first week when she first heard him scream, in the middle of the night. She woke with a start and was terrified that something could have happened. At first she was worried that he was coming to kill her but that made no sense, not yet. Then she was worried that someone had broken into the castle and she got up from her bed, only a candle to light her way. She heard sounds coming from a room on the same hallway as hers and she walked there, careful steps and a racing heart. The door was open and when she peered inside, she saw that it was his bedroom.

He was thrashing around on his bed, covered in sweat. He slept with his mask on and she should have been grateful for it but she just felt sad. She placed the candleholder she brought on the nightstand and tried to wake him up, gently, just like her mother used to wake her up. His head moved from side to side and she touched his face, wiping away the sweat, calling him.

"Wake up, my lord. Wake up."

He opened his eyes with difficulty, like the nightmare was taking hold of him, sewing his eyes shut. It took him a few seconds to notice Hae Soo looking at him, confused and worried, her hands cool against his burning skin, and when he did, he pushed her away. Hae Soo, who had been sitting on the bed by his side, fell on her back and cried out in pain.

"Leave!" He sounded breathless. " _Leave, now!_ "

She looked at him angrily and stood up in difficulty, leaving the candleholder and the scared man behind.

She didn't see him during breakfast the next morning, and her back still hurt. In the library, she lost her balance while climbing down a ladder and was certain she was going to seriously injure herself this time, but he was there to break her fall. She blinked up at him in surprise and quickly regained her composure, backing off from him and making her way to her working desk. She could hear his footsteps following her and she ignored them, placing the books down before walking back to the shelves. She could still feel his presence but he didn't speak so she didn't, either.

She was pretending to be looking for a title when he finally spoke.

"I'm... sorry. Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine," she answered, still not looking at him. She wasn't, not entirely, but being sent away like a dog after trying to help hurt more. Her mother had always said that kindness brought kindness but she should have known better. She wasn't helping him out of her own volition and she still didn't know what would happen to her if she couldn't find what he was looking for. She didn't even know for how long he would let her look. She was hurt and angry and confused and the castle frightened her with its towers and stairs and beds. She missed her home, but a home that was too far away and unattainable. A home that had nothing to do with the place she had come from before meeting Wang So.

She didn't see him leave and didn't see him bring her tea. There was a bit of ginger in it this time, and the cookies were the ones she liked best. She wondered if it was deliberate, and she felt a little bit guilty. When she tried reading that afternoon, the words and pages escaped her, and all she could think about was how scared he had looked before he had pushed away.

Hae Soo found him again that night, before she went to bed. He was looking out a window and he didn't have a single candle with him. She noticed that he had his hair all pulled up in a ponytail that day, and he looked a little less menacing then, without shadows cast on his face. She walked up to him and looked in the direction he was looking but there was nothing worth noticing, just the courtyard and the land ahead, empty, asleep.

"Does it frighten you too? This castle," she asked, glad the windows were closed because she could see the wind was merciless outside.

"Yes," he answered simply. From where she stood, Hae Soo could only see the side of his face that wasn't yet marred and she thought he looked like a prince from one of the books she read at home. The ones written in their mother language, not the western princes from the books in the castle, with their easy smiles and their blue eyes. Wang So's eyes were dark but they still reflected the moon, taking in a pretty shade of hazel.

"I feel like the windows are watching me," she said, looking away from his eyes.

"Do you miss your home?"

He looked at her and it was the first time she felt welcomed in his presence.

"Yes," she admitted. "But I can never go back there."

She smiled sadly, bowed to him and made her way towards her bedroom, not knowing he stood in the same place for a long time, looking at the way she had gone.

He joined her in the library the next day. He looked over the books she had picked from the shelves and sat across from her. He still had his hair tied back and Hae Soo could swear he looked friendlier that way, as if he was making a conscious effort to accommodate her.

"Can you really read these?" He asked, flipping through the books like a child looking for pictures.

"Yes. My mother taught me this language when I was a little girl."

"Hmm."

She couldn't concentrate on reading with him there, so she just watched him, out the top of her book, as he looked at the covers and the spines until he looked at her again and she had to quickly flip a page to pretend she had been reading all along.

"Can you read them for me?"

She lost her grip on the book and struggled to get hold of it again.

"What?"

"Can you read some of these books for me?"

"They... have nothing to do with the curse, my lord. I've been browsing through them and trying to find the right one but a lot of them are just folk tales."

"Still..." Wang So leaned over to her, eyes still that beautiful hazel color, capturing the flame of a candle. "Read me a book, Hae Soo."

And read she did.

* * *

It was going to take a long time to find the answer he was looking for that way, she thought. But still Hae Soo read him books, stories of adventure, pirates, fairies, mermaids and love. It really made it so much easier to be around him, and she discovered he had a very honest smile. She read to him until the sun had set, and sometimes even when the moon was high. Sometimes he asked her to read exactly like it was written, even if he didn't know the language, she didn't know why, but she did it anyway. The language fascinated him, and the look of wonder in his eyes made Soo conscious of her accent, conscious of everything. Sometimes they just sat against a book shelf and sometimes they sat in the living room, where they couldn't feel more out of touch with the castle, all with its elegant western drapes and carpet and couch, but they liked the fireplace.

It was on one of those days, where they sat on the floor before the fireplace and she had finished a particularly sad book that he told her, "I killed a man." She expected him to talk, but it was usually a comment about the story, like "Do you think he met his favorite brother again, when they lived by the sea?" or "Do you think the village accepted him as town leader after they settled in and she helped healing the sick?". On that day, Wang So looked at the fire and told his story.

"I was a prince once, a crown prince, sent to war. I was the strongest and had the best abilities and I killed many adversaries but..." He looked at his hand, almost as if seeing blood. "I killed one man, a foreigner, and it cursed me. Not because his death was any worse than the others', but _he_ was cursed and he passed it on to me. I had noticed that he was weaker than the others but I did my duty and he was cursed. He told me that if I did not come here I would die, so I came." He sighed, leaned his head back against the couch. "I don't know what it was that he did, but he laughed as he died. _He laughed_. As though I did him a huge favor."

Hae Soo hugged the book she was reading against her chest.

"So, whatever it was that he did to get him cursed to this place... You don't even know. You're paying for his crimes."

Wang So shook his head.

"No, I'm paying for mine. Even in battle, I shouldn't have killed so many people... I sought them out, Hae Soo. I went after their blood."

"Why?"

His laugh was bitter. "For my father. To make him proud of me."

Hae Soo turned her body completely to face him.

"Was he?"

"He never came looking for me."

Hae Soo continued to watch him, waiting for something else, but nothing else came. His eyes were downcast and he looked sadder than she had ever seen him. She didn't know what to tell him or if there was any comfort she could provide him, not with a burden this big, so she just asked, "Did your mother read you stories when you were little?"

"My mother..." He turned to face her again. "I never saw her much. From my earliest memories she was always looking after my younger brother and soon I was old enough to learn to fight."

"My mother read to me," Hae Soo said with a smile. "She read until I was old enough to learn how to read then we always read together. She bought books from many different countries and we would sometimes create our own stories with dragons and witches and princes." She patted the book she held against her chest. "All this reading we do reminds me very much of her."

"Is she waiting for you now?"

"My mother passed away a long time ago, Master So," Hae Soo said, looking at the fire. "Both she and my father."

Wang So frowned.

"I thought I met your father."

"No, Lord Taejo... Will only be my father after I get married to his son."

"And he just offered you like that? Did he even falter before sending you here?"

Sometimes Wang So's eyes changed color, like at that time. The hazel was set ablaze and turned red in anger. But Hae Soo shook her head and the flames subsided, replaced by confusion.

"I chose to come here. To accept the terms."

"But... why?"

"I thought that, whatever happened here, whatever awaited me, at least it'd be my choice to come." She let out a brief laugh. "It sounds bad when I say it out loud."

"Hae Soo..."

"I promise I'll find a way to break the curse, so... Don't send me away yet."

She got up and ran to her room without looking back. She didn't want to admit that she didn't want to go away at all, to return to that house full of strangers, even if Lord Taejo had given her shelter, even if Lord Wook had been good to her. They didn't care about her books or her knowledge, and they didn't look at her like he did, like she was the most interesting person in the world. She didn't want to admit that, when he looked so hurt, she wanted to reach out and touch him, marred side and all, just like on the day he had a nightmare, on the day he pushed her away. Didn't want to admit that she wanted to be pulled in instead.

* * *

Wang So changed after that day. He was kind before but then he just became sweeter. Closer. A brush of fingers when he gave her a book, coming behind her and grabbing a book she couldn't reach. The clothes that appeared in her room were more and more beautiful. He told her that the castle provided with what they truly wanted and she didn't know if it was her heart or his. They searched and searched and still had no clue about how to end his curse but still he looked happy.

One day, he taught her how to dance a western dance called "waltz". When the song played in the vast ballroom, Hae Soo felt shy, like a simpleton girl, but as he held her in position, he told her it was to repay her for all the stories she read him. She accepted it but oh, she was terrible, stepping on his feet and tripping and pulling him down. She was so embarrassed but he laughed, and when he laughed, she laughed, too. He tried to make it simpler for her and she liked it, just moving slowly, swinging slowly while the waltz faded away.

"Soo," he called her, he called her _Soo_ then, and when she looked up at him, the hand that had guided hers caressed her cheek. "Thank you for promising me. Whenever you read to me it's like I live a thousand different lives away from this place and you're always there with me. Thank you for being that person to me."

"It's... It's nothing. I haven't done anything yet," she said, blushing all the way to the tips of her ears. Wang So looked amused then and he was so close, their noses were almost touching, but he froze when her hand touched his mask and he looked away from her eyes. The moment was gone so easily it broke her heart. She would have questioned him, would have pulled him back but he was suddenly grimacing and falling to the floor in pain.

Wang So screamed and it filled the ballroom. His hand was on his face, on his mask, and he gasped for breath. Hae Soo had no idea what to do, hadn't seen him in that much pain since the nightmare such a long time ago. He didn't push her away, not this time, just screamed in her embrace until it subsided.

"What's wrong? What was that?" She asked, drying the sweat on his face with her sleeves as he caught his breath.

"It's the castle... It brings me down with it. It's just how it happens."

Just how it happened. Hae Soo held him, forgetting everything she ever told herself to hold her back, thinking about all the pain he had to go through on his own, and for how long?

"I'm going to find a way and then it won't hurt anymore." She buried her face on his neck and the skin was feverish. "And then I will not have to leave, right?"

"I won't make you do anything you don't want to do, Soo." His voice was weak but he hugged her back. The man with eyes of a wolf adored her then. "Even if you wanted to leave now, I wouldn't stop you." She backed away just enough to look at his face.

"I'm your person now and I promise it's going to be okay."

When she said it, she didn't know if she was trying to convince him or to convince herself.

* * *

Wook never let go of her wrist and it really hurt. By the time they reached his house, she was drained, drenched and bruised, yet he smiled at her and intertwined their fingers like he had saved her. He ushered her inside, where his younger brother Eun quickly greeted her with a towel. She thought she would have time to rest, but Lord Taejo walked into the living room, his older daughter Yeon Hwa behind him, before she was even done taking off her shoes.

"Hae Soo. Have you discovered his weakness?"

She looked at him as Eun checked her for wounds.

"Is that... why you brought me back?"

"You were there for months, and in every letter you wrote you spoke of a good life. He has done you no harm and has probably gotten close you. Now tell me: what is his weakness?"

"Did you know?"

She turned to Wook, who had the grace to look down, to look away.

"You never intended on facing him in battle... You just wanted to bring me here so you could all ask me that." Hae Soo looked incredulously from one face to the next. "You all want... what, his fortune? _It's all cursed._ You can't take it from him."

"Hae Soo," said Wook, kneeling before her and taking her hand. "If you tell us, you won't have to be his prisoner anymore. You'll be free and we'll be able to get married like we had promised to."

"You don't love me," she said, taking her hand off his grasp. "You loved my mother and she didn't love you and when she died, you decided to settle for me, like I was a consolation prize at a fair."

Yeon Hwa, who had been silent until that moment, walked over to her and slapped her across the face. Hae Soo stared at her and saw no trace of anger on her beautiful features, just narrowed eyes and a trace of disgust.

"You ungrateful wench," she said, and no one moved to stop her, to get her out of the room. "We take you in and we give you food and shelter and this is how you pay us back? Just tell us how to kill the beast so we can take his castle and his fortune and maybe you can join your mother in the woods!"

"Yeon Hwa!" Wook stood up and faced his sister but there was no slapping on _her_ face, just a staring match, angry moods battling each other in silence.

Hae Soo had had enough. She marched to the door and was ready to walk out and back to the castle, even barefoot if needed, but Wook blocked her way and held her by her shoulders.

"Hae Soo, I'm sorry, don't leave. Stay here tonight and maybe we can talk in the morning. We'll find a way so nobody has to die."

Lord Wook's smile was the same as it had always been, kind and reassuring. Hae Soo thought of all the years she spent with him, even when her mother was still alive, and he had never done her harm. He didn't love her and she didn't love him but he had taken care of her when she got sick and held her when she mourned. Looking back inside the house, she spotted Eun who looked worried, like he still wanted to take care of her wounds, never speaking a word about fortunes. Yeon Hwa had her own interests but she had taught her how to dress and behave like a fine woman, and Lord Taejo had given her a home. She owed them one night. She was not ungrateful.

"...I'll stay here tonight."

 _But if you do anything to him then you'll have made your choice, and may the gods forgive me, I'll make my own._

* * *

When she woke up the next morning and walked into the living room, there was nobody there. They all stood outside, watching the smoke being blown by the wind and the flames that colored the sky, high, high up the hills.

"No..."

She started to run. She wasn't a fast runner and the path that led to the castle wasn't stable, so she stumbled, she fell, she got up again. All the while thinking about the man who taught her to dance, who loved stories, who was hurt and in pain. She remembered how close they had gotten that he'd let in her room and keep him company when he had nightmares. The way his hair felt to the touch when he lied down with his head on her lap to listen to her stories, how his laughter was so beautiful despite the mask, because of the mask, because she liked everything about him. Even his remorse, even if he was bathed in blood, she loved him. For the way he looked at her, the way he had looked at Wook, the way he talked about his home and the cities he still wanted to see. The way he didn't seek revenge on anyone, not even his father, how he just wanted to be free.

 _You can't die. You're stronger than this._

She ran until her breath felt like scratches in her throat, until she could barely see from the tears. She wished she was still wearing one of his dresses, even if they were cursed like the castle, cursed like the food they ate and the tea they drank, but it was hers and she had liked them, she had liked that he liked them. But she was Hae Soo then, just orphan Hae Soo, who didn't want to be left alone again.

" _So!_ "

The flames hurt her eyes so much but she tried to look for him, for any trace of him. He couldn't possibly be inside, everything was consumed by the fire, and the castle, oh, the castle was finally getting ruined, finally ready to tumble down like the skeleton of a giant dragon. She tried to listen carefully; if she couldn't see him, then she could definitely hear him, this couldn't happen to the castle without reflecting on him, so she listened.

She heard his screams.

Hae Soo tried to follow his voice the best she could, even if the fire was so loud, so overwhelmingly loud. She heard it coming from far, far in the back, and she searched for a path that could lead to the back of the castle, the precious piece of land that ended suddenly in a cliff, and beyond that, just the dark, deep sea. The only path that led there was full of bushes, thorns and trees, and by the time she got on the other side, her face, legs and arms were full of cuts, but it was nothing compared to the pain Wang So was feeling, his body doubled at the middle, his skin red, crawling towards the precipice.

"So! So, it's me!"

There was nothing she could do to lessen his pain, there were no more books to be read, no more secret to discover. He managed to firm himself on his knees to look at her, his Hae Soo, one last time.

"Who did this? What happened while I was gone?"

 _It was such a short time, I'm not ready to lose you._

"I... I thought you wouldn't come back and I just... I just wanted to see you again. I'm so tired, Soo. So tired of this place."

She held his burning face and she cried, wishing she had come back the night before. So worried she was about his death that she didn't sense Wook coming behind them, sword in hand, until he spoke and tried to push her away. Wang So was in no way to fight and he didn't even have strength to avoid any slash but Hae Soo struggled, she didn't let go of him, not even when Wook drew his sword back, when he aimed into Wang So's heart. She was suddenly there, clinging to him, sword trespassing both their bodies.

When Wook noticed what he had done, he stumbled backwards, fell down and lost his sword. He watched as Hae Soo, still clinging to the burning Wang So, bleeding herself, took just a few more steps away from him, away from the castle, and away from everything.

He watched as they both fell from the cliff and into the sea.

* * *

The sky was bright and clear when he opened his eyes. He felt heavy but his skin didn't hurt anymore; nothing hurt anymore. He thought, _this must be the afterlife,_ all with its clouds and soft breeze, only the sound of the coming waves. He tried moving his head and found out that he could, and when he looked to his right, he saw her. His Hae Soo. He still had an arm to reach and he reached for her, for her hand. He held her back with fingertips, breathing her name, and he coughed water, salty water but no blood. But he felt so heavy he just drifted away, just happy to be with her, even if it was selfish to feel so.

When Wang So next woke up, he was on a bed, and the first thing he saw was her again, hovering above him, an expectant smile on her face and tears in her eyes.

"He's awake!" She declared, he didn't know at whom, and he tried to sit up. "Does it hurt anywhere, So? How do you feel?"

"Maybe you should let him breathe a little, Ms. Soo."

Wang So saw there was a couple in the same room as them, a kind-looking young man and a beautiful woman with her arm around his.

"Ah, these are Baek Ah and Woo Hee. They rescued us from the beach," Soo explained, wiping her tears away.

"From the beach? How...?"

Baeh Ah and Woo Hee exchanged a glance and a smile.

"We think it was the sea nymphs."

"The sea nymphs?" Wang So asked, having never heard of such a thing.

"Or sea spirits," Baek Ah continued. "Sometimes known as mermaids. They lure wicked men to death but they're weak to real love. You two were supposed to have died, but Soo told me she was still holding on to you when you fell in the water, so the spirits must have taken pity on you and saved your lives."

"I've seen them before," Woo Hee added. "They like singing when Baek Ah plays the flute."

"So they're good spirits?" Hae Soo asked, Wang So's head still spinning.

"They're neither good nor bad, they just do as they please. As do we all," Woo Hee explained, and it seemed like a good enough explanation to Soo. She turned her attention back to Wang So, placing a hand on face and the other on his chest. Baek Ah and Woo Hee walked out without a sound.

"Does it hurt anywhere?"

"No. What happened? The curse...?"

Hae Soo grabbed a mirror that Woo Hee had left her and showed him his reflection. His face was clear from any wound or mark, even where his mask was supposed to be. He touched his chest but there was also no scar, no pain, nothing. He looked at Hae Soo, reality hitting him, but she shook her head immediately, laughing and crying. He pulled her into his embrace and she went willingly, relief surrounding them both.

"I think the curse was broken on you when Wook stabbed us," Soo explained, eyes shining with excitement. "But the castle was destroyed and the curse had no place to go so maybe it just disappeared like smoke!" She beamed at him. She was ready to say something else, maybe something about how getting stabbed hadn't been so terrible after all, but he kissed her, silencing her.

He kissed her like he had meant to a long time ago but didn't, back when he felt tainted by the curse. He could feel her fingers in his hair, on his neck, and her lips that welcomed his, smiled against his, could feel her sigh when she opened her mouth and her arms pulling him closer. When they pulled apart he told her he loved her, had loved her for a long time and she just nodded, whispering her response, so very much in love but still so very shy.

"What do you want to do now, Soo?" He asked her later, both lying side by side on the borrowed bed, a well-deserved rest, their fingers intertwined, by her own choice this time. She seemed to think.

"We could travel to those cities you never met before or maybe we could stay here for a while and see the sea nymphs who saved our lives."

"You could write a story about sea nymphs," he told her, and she widened her eyes.

"I could! And about a cursed prince, too," she said, rolling over and closer to him, arm encircling him, face buried against his chest, next to his heart.

"How would that one end?"

"The prince and his lover get married, of course, and they never have to be lonely again."

Wang So pushed her from his embrace only enough to look in her eyes.

"You would? Marry me?"

Soo let out a brief laugh.

"I would have married you in the cursed castle, while you still hid your wounds behind a mask, So."

The fallen prince kissed her again, having nothing else to offer her then but his love, and that was the only thing she wanted. Without a plan or a fortune, the two of them slept in each other's arms that night, in that city by the sea, under the eyes of the sea nymphs. They were ready to begin their journey, ready to write their story with their own hands.

And when Hae Soo wrote about them later, she could never bring herself to write about a beast, only about the wolf she would always see deep inside of him, the wolf who protected her and treasured her, the wolf of which she would never let go.

 _I'll set you free._


End file.
